Price estimate for Sask.'s refit of coal-fired power plants climbs to $26B

[Hamloc]

Yes we all know renewables need backups and baseload. That's why I said "Gas for baseload. Renewables and storage for increasing supply"

Both Texas and North Dakota have lots of renewables, so cut the crap that they don't work.

The deregulated free market in electricity was building a lot of renewable capacity in Alberta before Danny Smith put up the road blocks to scare investment away because they were going to cut into the market for gas. And Like Saskatchewan, the Alberta UCP don't want cheaper competition that cuts into demand for fossil fuels!

Alberta is done with coal already and Saskatchewan wants to make an expensive commitment to 25 more years of coal? WTF

Saskatchewan can build more high efficiency gas plants and invest in more renewables to increase supply and reduce costs and emissions. Lets see the numbers before patching the old coal plants with band aids.

Its not one or the other. How many times do I have to remind you guys you can have a lot of renewables in a reliable system?

Many countries and states already have a diverse system with lots of renewables. The laggards are provinces with a lot of fossil fuels just like tRump they are to beholden to the fossil fuel industry.

Renewablse are the lowest cost option for new generation capacity in most places The wind and the sun's energy are free. No fuel costs!

The fossil fuel industry is scared of declining demand! Because you cant make a buck off the wind and the sun unless you invest in renewables. Their mega profits will be gone.

Atco guy was here a couple of weeks ago updating the breaker on my meter. We had a good visit. I asked him what he thought about solar. He said that he didn’t like it(I cleaned up his response). He said if a cloud bank comes over with a large solar field you get a sudden drop in output. Then of course once the clouds pass it spikes back up. This causes inevitable variance in voltage which he said is very difficult to balance and compensate for because it can’t be predicted. So sing all the B.S. stories you want Chuck2 but the higher the percentage of generation that comes from solar the greater the problem. Now if the solar field is in the desert in Nevada clouds certainly less of an issue.

[chuckChuck]

So the atco guy is an electrical engineer? Probably not if he is doing service calls!

So what you are saying is of all the the massive amounts of solar in the world nobody has figured out how to stabilize the grid? And thats why solar is bad?

Our grid tied solar system operates just fine on a partly cloudy day. Voltage is stable and we have many more outages and surge problems from Sask Power equipment failures.

Solar and wind on a large scale are already a big part of the grid in many counties, so it looks liker engineers and operators already know how to manage these issues and will only get better.

[Hamloc]

So the atco guy is an electrical engineer? Probably not if he is doing service calls!

So what you are saying is of all the the massive amounts of solar in the world nobody has figured out how to stabilize the grid? And thats why solar is bad?

Our grid tied solar system operates just fine on a partly cloudy day. Voltage is stable and we have many more outages and surge problems from Sask Power equipment failures.

Solar and wind on a large scale are already a big part of the grid in many counties, so it looks liker engineers and operators already know how to manage these issues and will only get better.

So because this guy isn’t an engineer he is not qualified to have an opinion? Interesting. So who is more qualified to give an opinion on different air drills or fertilizer application or efficacy of different herbicides Chuck2? The farmer who has been using them for 30 years and fixing them and living with the results or a University Professor that has spent his life in the classroom and in front of a computer?!?!

[chuckChuck]

More antiscience and anti expert crap from Hamloc? LOL

Having and opinion is fine but claiming that solar electricity doesn't work is stupid in this day and age!

Most farmers know nothing about the chemistry of pesticides! Agronomists study pesticides and give advice to many farmers based on training and experience scouting fields and following the results.

Farmers follow their advice and rely on their own experience. But experts have an important role to play.

So the wheels fell of your argument Hamloc!

[shtferbrains]

Agronomists and farmers know all pesticides are not the same when it comes to weather effects.
Best results come when you recognize their strengths and weaknesses.
The latest and greatest sometimes can leave you surprised and disappointed.
The new ones always come with a lot of spin that sometimes doesn’t work out.
Can cost big bucks if resdues hang around for longer than expected.

Some products that are widely used in the corn belt have little fit here.

[Hamloc]

More antiscience and anti expert crap from Hamloc? LOL

Having and opinion is fine but claiming that solar electricity doesn't work is stupid in this day and age!

Most farmers know nothing about the chemistry of pesticides! Agronomists study pesticides and give advice to many farmers based on training and experience scouting fields and following the results.

Farmers follow their advice and rely on their own experience. But experts have an important role to play.

So the wheels fell of your argument Hamloc!

Not at all Chuck2, I said “University Professor”, not the agronomist walking the field with me. Two totally different people. The agronomist has practical experience in the field.

[chuckChuck]

Who teaches agronomists Hamloc? Where do they learn soil science, plant science and weed control for example ? University or college professors.

Professors do ag research and they also train all the other ag researchers and plant breeders who work throughout the industry.

Again you really don't get a lot of things do you Hamloc?

It seems you really don't understand rather basic concepts like how several countries can be warming twice as fast the planet as a whole.

And then you suggest that Professors don't know anything?

[Hamloc]

Who teaches agronomists Hamloc? Where do they learn soil science, plant science and weed control for example ? University or college professors.

Professors do ag research and they also train all the other ag researchers and plant breeders who work throughout the industry.

Again you really don't get a lot of things do you Hamloc?

It seems you really don't understand rather basic concepts like how several countries can be warming twice as fast the planet as a whole.

And then you suggest that Professors don't know anything?

Carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-solar-panels-and-batteries-can -now-run-close-to24/365-in-some-cities.
This article talks about how in the worlds sunniest cities like Las Vegas and Mexico city you can now get to more than 90% of the way to continuous generation. This is from a climate advocacy group Ember..

Now back to reality. This has not yet been done in actual practice. This is the difference between the work done by a Professor and as an example a farmer. The professor can study and do research and develop theoretical processes but someone as an example a farmer has to do the work in real life.

[shtferbrains]

Your man Carney says he's going to green the grid and our bills will drop 70%?
Can you give us an example of where that has happened Chuck?

[Hamloc]

Your man Carney says he's going to green the grid and our bills will drop 70%?
Can you give us an example of where that has happened Chuck?

I apologize for doing this but what KC(King Carney) said was he is going to lower “energy” costs for 70% of Canadian households. So of course his plan is to push us to use heat pumps for heat as an example. He did infer that he would expand electrical capacity and make electricity cheaper for consumers at the same time. Certainly electricity has become more expensive over the last 2 decades not cheaper.